1. Field Of The Invention
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for preparing a variety of quick cooking and precooked filled pasta products, such as ravioli, tortellini, manicotti, stuffed shells, dumplings and wonton by utilizing a steam injected preconditioner with an internal lubricant, a co-rotating intermesh twin screw extruder with low shear configuration and a co-extrusion die, and a stamper or cutter for forming a continuous co-extruded filled shell into pasta segments of predetermined configuration.
2. Description Of The Related Art
The use of co-extrusion equipment and processes to prepare filled food products is known. U.S. Pat. No. 4,574,690 to Chiao et al., for example, describes an apparatus and process for continuously producing a co-extruded wrapped food product such as wonton, pot stickers, ravioli, tamalis, filled donuts and the like. After the product is filled, shaped, cut and sealed, it is partially or completely cooked, or frozen. Other co-extrusion apparatus and processes are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,579,744 to Thulin et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,618,499 to Wainright.
In recent years, there has been a substantially increased demand for foods which can be prepared quickly. While pasta products, including filled pasta products, which are pre-cooked are very popular with consumers, conventional pasta products require anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour to cook. This is the time required for boiling water to rehydrate and gelatinize the starch contained in these products, which is necessary to make them suitable for consumption. To adapt such products to more convenient and quick cooking food items, many attempts have been made in the art to reduce necessary cooking time.
Methods and apparatus for preparing a pre-cooked pasta product are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,540,592 to Myer et al. High temperature pumping and back mixing zones are utilized to form a gelatinized pasta dough by uniformly mixing a cereal composition and blending it with water. The dough is subjected to shearing conditions at elevated pressures and temperatures substantially above the gelatinization temperatures of the starches in the cereal composition.
In Seltzer et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,495,214, a process is disclosed for the production of quick cooking pasta products. The process comprises combining flour, water, a carbonate, acidic leavening salt and an interrupter to form a dough, extruding the dough through an extrusion cooker under conditions of pressure and temperature sufficient to permit the carbonate to react with the acidic leavening salt and at least partially to gelatinize the starch in the flour, and drying the extruded, formed pasta product.
In U.S. Pat. No, 4,243,690, Murakami et al. disclose a process for preparing instant cooking dry macaroni. The flour and other ingredients are mixed with 25 to 35% weight water into a granular mixture while avoiding kneading The mixture is then subjected to a preliminary steaming step to effect alpha-conversion of the starch components. Thereafter the mixture is molded into the desired shape, and then subjected to an additional steaming step, followed by drying.
Lometillo et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,394,397, disclose a process for producing instant pasta products having an expanded porous cellular structure which enables the pasta to be rehydrated for consumption in a short period of time. The pasta blend comprises a farinaceous starch-containing material, gluten, an edible vegetable oil, a strengthening agent, such as microcrystalline cellulose, and water, all of which are introduced into an extrusion cooker. Optional ingredients include a starch complexing agent, such as glyceryl monostearate, a phosphatide such as lecithin, cereal flour, flavoring and vitamins.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,473,593 to Sturgeon discloses a process for preparing quick cooking food including rice, cereal, grain or pasta, wherein the particulate food product is fluidized with steam to a predetermined moisture level, and subsequently cooled and dried to a second predetermined moisture level, also in a fluidized bed.
Harada et al. U.S. Pat. No, 4,540,590, discloses a process for producing a partially dried pasta with good shelf life, while Cunningham, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,846,563 discloses quick cooking macaroni products. They are produced by forming a dough containing at least 50% wheat flour, which is then formed into noodles by extrusion and the noodles re-dried to a moisture content of less than 6%.
The use of a lubricant in the formulation of reformed, rehydratable rice products is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,521,436 to Lou et al. Starting materials used in the process include ungelatinized rice flour, an aeratron agent, an emulsifier and optionally an edible gum.
An extrusion process for manufacturing quick cooking rice is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,769,251 issued to Wenger et al. This patent disclosed a low shear extrusion process in which a mixture of ingredients is mixed in a preconditioner, and thereafter the mixture is introduced into an extruder and passes through a cooking zone. The cooked mixture then passes through a venting zone and out through an extruded dye to form the final product.
A number of machines have been proposed for the automated production of pasta products, including those which encapsulate a filler material with dough. Typical machines of this type are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,227,728 and 2,774,313 to Lombi; U.S. Pat. No. 3,605,641 to Shuster; U.S. Pat. No. 4,160,634 to Huang; 4,941,402 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,996,914 to D'Alterio Although these machines exhibit slight variations, they typically include separate hoppers for a fresh dough mixture and a separate source for filler material Each of the hoppers releases the dough mixture which is flattened into dough sheets by passage through various forming and shaping rollers. The filler material is deposited between the two sheets of fresh dough and a ravioli or dumpling type product is formed by the pressing and cutting of the two fresh sheets of dough about peripheral portions which surround the central filled region of the product. In the D'Alterio, U.S. Pat. No. 4,996,914, one sheet of fresh dough is deposited on a rotary horizontal drum with uniformly spaced cavities A filler dispenser has downwardly aimed nozzles which inject filler material into the cavities after the first sheet of fresh dough has been forced into the cavity. A second sheet of fresh dough is laid over the cavity and a roller presses the second sheet against the first sheet to fuse them around the central filled portion. The dough encapsulated pasta sections are cut from the fused dough sheets as ravioli or like product.
None of the apparatus disclosed in the aforementioned patents form filler encapsulated pasta products, such as ravioli, from a precooked cylindrical pasta shell formed in a co-extruder.
The present invention provides flexibility in processing quick cooking or precooked, filled pasta products. A variety of filled pasta products are provided with various degrees of cooking time. The products can be produced quickly and economically by using a twin screw extruder in conjunction with a preconditioner, an internal lubricant, a co-extrusion die, and a stamper or cutter for forming a continuous co-extruded shell into pasta segments of predetermined configuration.